July 25, 2025
5 min read
Roberto Torres
Walmart appoints Daniel Danker to lead AI acceleration and introduces four AI ‘super agents’ to enhance customer and associate experiences.
Walmart Expands AI Leadership, Introduces Four ‘Super Agents’ to Drive Innovation
Walmart has expanded its technology leadership team to accelerate its AI adoption journey. The retail giant appointed Daniel Danker, former Instacart executive, as Executive Vice President (EVP) of AI acceleration, product, and design. This new role reflects Walmart’s commitment to embedding AI deeply across its business. Danker previously led research and development for Instacart’s online grocery service and served as its chief product officer. Walmart also created the EVP of AI Platforms position, reporting to EVP, Global CTO and Chief Development Officer Suresh Kumar.“AI is changing how we work,” said Walmart CEO Doug McMillon in a LinkedIn post. “I look forward to working with Daniel and seeing how these changes strengthen our business and improve experiences for our customers, members and fellow associates.”
Four AI ‘Super Agents’ to Streamline Operations
Walmart is consolidating its AI agent offerings into four key “super agents” designed to simplify and unify AI-driven processes across the company:- Sparky: A customer shopping assistant within the Walmart app that helps shoppers find products efficiently.
- Associate Agent: Centralizes multiple internal processes and information streams such as scheduling and sales data to support Walmart associates.
- Marty: A partner agent that assists suppliers, sellers, and advertisers with onboarding, order management, and campaign execution.
- Developer Agent: Accelerates software testing, building, and launching to boost developer productivity. Suresh Kumar emphasized the strategic choice to build a unified, company-wide AI framework ensuring every new agent simplifies life for customers, associates, and partners.
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Context and Industry Trends
Walmart’s AI leadership expansion comes amid a broader industry race for AI expertise. Other major companies like Goldman Sachs, General Motors, Eli Lilly, and PwC have recently appointed chief AI officers or similar roles to lead their AI strategies. The retailer has already integrated AI in various ways, including adding real-time translation features to its employee mobile app and deploying AI tools that saved 4 million developer hours last year by accelerating software delivery.Looking Ahead
With these leadership changes and the rollout of super agents, Walmart aims to further embed AI into its operations, improving efficiency and customer experience as AI technologies evolve.Source: Walmart expands AI leadership, introduces 4 ‘super agents’ by Roberto Torres, published July 24, 2025.